Live in the Moment
by Lumosify
Summary: When Lily's friends leave her by herself in Hogsmeade, and the Marauders give Lily the choice to join them or stay alone by herself, Lily doesn't think twice before agreeing to join the four mischief-makers. She should have thought before answering...or should she have? Romance only because of Mary and Marlene's implied (eye-brows raised) 'suggestion' about James and Lily.


_Live in the Moment_

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Lily sighed as she was dragged by the Marauders, towards the direction of The Three Broomsticks. She deeply regretted agreeing to the Marauders' offer of joining them for the rest of the day in Hogsmeade. True, her best friend, Alice Prewett, was on a date with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom, and had left Lily by herself. But her other dorm-mates/friends, had all claimed "busy", too.

Mary McDonald and Marlene McKinnon had said they had to do make-up work they had missed, and Dorcas Meadows, with a nervous smile, admitted she had made plans to study for the upcoming sixth year exams. Emmeline Vance simply stood there until Mary and Marlene gave identical, sharp glares. Emmeline glowered at the two and huffily told Lily that Professor Slughorn had assigned Emmeline a detention.

Lily had suddenly felt very lonely, and when the Marauders offered to join her, she hadn't thought twice before agreeing. Now she wished she had remembered one of the rules she had concerning the Marauders: Never accept anything the Marauders offer.

Unfortunately, she couldn't back out now, and so, gritting her teeth, she allowed herself to be dragged along.

So far, the four mischief-makers had taken her to Zonko's (Lily had to admit there were some pretty neat prank items there), peeked at Madame Puddifoot's (Lily had felt like she could vomit everything she had eaten in the past week, and more), and stood as close as possible to the Shrieking Shack (Lily had been extremely nervous, but the Marauders' snickers at her expression had made her steel her nerves and follow the four boys). The Marauders had soon after decided it was time to visit The Three Broomsticks, as it remained warm, despite the fact that it was a freezing cold day in spring, and were now dragging Lily there, despite her cold and aching feet. Lily hoped this was their last stop, so she could release herself from their iron grip and relax her feet and mind.

Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew were pulling her inside by the arms, but James Potter and Remus Lupin were lingering slightly behind.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Remus muttered, so low Lily barely heard it.

"Even though Sirius came up with it, I think it might work." James replied, just as low.

"This surpasses even the Marauder Code. We've never done anything like it."

"We aren't doing anything wrong, technically. This is one that depends on the victim's reaction, and I'm pretty sure our victim will react correctly."

Lily felt her face heat up slightly in anger. So they were going to pull a prank? Her normal reaction would be to leave as fast as possible, but she should be there to know what had happened and, if the prank was bad enough, be able to inform a professor with the right details. It was the least she could do, and her Prefect duties supported that decision. After all, she wasn't a Gryffindor for nothing.

Sirius and Peter directed them to the table farthest away from everyone else. Lily found that highly suspicious, but didn't comment. After all, she'd have to let the prank run its course, or she might make the prank worse than it probably would already be.

"Drinks on me, Prongs," Sirius grinned. "It's about time someone else paid for something today." He disappeared in the crowd several feet away from the Marauders' table.

Lily turned her attention back to the table, and sat down. She was followed by James. When no one else sat down, she inquired, "Is there something wrong?" Only to get shifting glances as her response. Finally, Remus coughed, and Peter's back straightened as he said, "Hey, Remus, did you take a look at the giant mounds of chocolate on display in Honeydukes? I know we were supposed to go there next, but I really want to take a look at what's new."

Remus looked out of a nearby window, in the direction of Honeydukes, with a longing sigh. It was a well-known fact that Remus adored chocolate. "Do you mind if Peter and I go to Honeydukes and take a look at the chocolate?" Remus directed this question at James, who replied with a slight smile, indicating that he didn't mind them leaving. Peter and Remus left, leaving Lily and James to themselves. Lily suddenly felt very aware of her surroundings.

After a very long silence, in which James coughed a total of five times, and Lily ignored James, tapped her fingers on the table, and stared aimlessly out of the window the entire time, James decided to speak. Lily was grateful, as she was never good with long silences.

"So...hi, I guess." James ran a hand through his hair, which annoyed Lily greatly.

"Hello." Lily replied curtly. Now that she had heard how boring this conversation would be, she stopped any intentions of encouraging the conversation, though she didn't want to lapse into another long silence.

Luckily, Sirius arrived before anything else could happen. A few feet away from James and Lily, he stopped; body half turned away; Lily could see him holding three Butterbeers, and a much smaller bottle.

Lily narrowed her eyes. As she watched carefully, Sirius opened the small bottle and added three drops of the liquid inside to one of the Butterbeers. He closed the small bottle, and hid it in his cloak.

As Sirius turned around and walked towards James and Lily's table with a bright smile on his face, Lily watched the Butterbeers closely. Sirius set down two of the drinks, and Lily watched as he put the Butterbeer with the three drops of liquid in front of her. At once, Lily realized that the prank was most definitely on her, and tried to plan a way to backfire the prank.

Sirius looked over his shoulder, and turned back towards Lily and James. "That young lady over there looks lonely," Sirius grinned, and gestured to where a pretty young lady drank her Butterbeer alone at her table, staring at the tabletop. When she looked up, Lily gasped; she couldn't believe her eyes. Dorcas was here, in The Three Broomsticks! She had even said she was studying! Dorcas quickly looked away from Lily. Lily looked around the packed room; she spotted Mary and Marlene hanging out in the back. She knew Alice was out with Frank, but it was still a shock to see her at a far table, chatting with Frank. The only one not there was Emmeline; at least she had kept her word. Lily felt slightly angry; she was supposed to be their friend! Why on earth would they lie to their friend? Lily made a mental note to confront them later on, and focused back on James and Sirius. James was replying to what Lily assumed was a request to leave, from Sirius.

"Go ahead, Sirius," James was saying, "Merlin knows I can't stop you." As Sirius left with the last Butterbeer, Lily slowly pulled her wand out; making sure no one saw her, aimed it at her and James' bottles, and performed the Switching Spell on them. She quickly slipped her wand back in her pocket. James, who had been staring at the tabletop in front of him, looked up and smiled hesitantly at her, and Lily grinned back, triumphantly, although James couldn't have known that.

"Cheers," Lily raised her glass, and as James did the same, Lily knocked her glass against his. They both took a gulp of Butterbeer.

Lily suddenly felt very relaxed, as if in a trance. James leaned forward slightly. Lily heard him say, under a layer of fogginess, "Are you okay, Lily?"

Words flowed out of her mouth without her brain processing it. "I'm fine," Lily said tonelessly. James grinned. "Lily, will you go out with me?"

In the back of Lily's brain, a voice told her to shout out a loud "NO! How many times do I have to tell you that?" But she knew that wasn't the complete truth.

After the "Lake Incident", as her friends tended to call it; where Sev–Snape, Lily corrected herself; was publicly embarrassed, and Lily was called a Mudblood, Lily had noticed a change in James. After asking her many more times for the rest of the year, Lily had expected James to renew the constant asking of, "Lily, will you go out with me?" But, coming back to Hogwarts for Sixth Year after summer, James had been strangely silent. It had continued for the rest of the year in that same fashion; and James had also stopped bullying younger years and Severus "Snivellus" Snape, at least around Lily. Lily knew that while she wouldn't want to suddenly start dating James, she could definitely be friends with him.

"No," Lily replied vaguely. James looked extremely hurt for a second; but it disappeared a moment later. "Why?" He simply said.

"Even though you were a lot nicer this year, and you stopped asking me out on a daily basis, I wouldn't want to start dating you, out of nowhere." The words tumbled out of Lily's mouth. "I'd want to be friends first."

James brightened considerably. "So, would you like to be friends?"

Lily immediately replied, even though she did not want to. "Yes," Lily could feel her trance wearing off, slowly. "But only if you don't ever do this method of interrogation again."

James, at first, looked shocked at her answer, until his expression moved to ecstatic, and then, suddenly, his face showed only confusion. "I thought Veritaserum doesn't allow remarks like that?"

"It doesn't," Lily answered automatically. "But your _Veritaserum_ is wearing off, so I can add extra comments, either randomly, or after answering." Now knowing what she had drank, Lily said Veritaserum nastily.

Lily did feel quite mad, but had to admit that her agreeing to a friendship with James Potter would have only come out with the aid of Veritaserum. She was also a little grateful that she had gotten that piece of information out. Now she didn't have to "lay down" her Gryffindor pride and get it out. She wouldn't even have anymore "enemies" at the end of her seven years at Hogwarts (unless Snape was counted, though Lily didn't; she thought they acted more like a person you see often but never talk to) to tarnish her memories this way. Besides, she didn't really have a problem for being friends with James and the Marauders, and, seeing as they had come up with this interrogation idea, they must have at least part of their brains.

Lily suddenly remembered that she had switched the drink with the liquid inside it for the one that didn't. "But I switched the drinks," Lily said, confused. "After Sirius had put in the Veritaserum."

James grinned. "Actually, Remus told Sirius to put Veritaserum in both. Then, Sirius 'accidentally' showed himself putting the antidote to Veritaserum in yours, so when you switched them, you got the one with just Veritaserum, and I got the one with Veritaserum and the antidote. That way we didn't do anything illegal, because you basically administered yourself Veritaserum. So no one goes to Azkaban." James looked pleased, and Lily felt impressed.

The wizarding law stated that only members of the Wizengamot could administer Veritaserum, and only for trials. Any others needed a written document with either one of the Wizengamot's, or Minister of Magic's signature to grant permission for the use of Veritaserum. What the Marauders had done had been one way to get around the law. There was no law against giving yourself Veritaserum, especially if the person willingly drinks the Veritaserum, knowing what it is. True, Lily did not know she was drinking Veritaserum, but she had done the switching spell, and so had given herself the potion.

James must have seen her expression, as he grinned widely. "Brilliant, isn't it?"

Lily tried to keep a straight face as she said, "It's too bad you didn't think of it."

James stood, downing the last of his Butterbeer. "Are you going to finish that?" He gestured towards Lily's drink.

"Did you forget what's in it?"

"Oh. Right." James looked sheepish. "Well, since you're not finishing that, want to visit Honeydukes and find Remus and Peter?"

"Let's not forget Sirius," Lily stood up, and looked over at the far side of the room, where Sirius was "mingling". "He might feel 'lonely'." She finished, smirking. James pushed his chair in.

"Wouldn't dream of it, Lily." He smirked back. Lily pushed her own chair in and followed James out of The Three Broomsticks, leaving Sirius behind.

"So..." Lily narrowed her eyes at her friends, back from their Hogsmeade visit, in their dorm.

Emmeline glared at the opposite wall, while Dorcas and Alice gave a guilty look to Lily. Mary and Marlene just beamed at Lily from their respective beds.

"I knew it would work!" Mary squealed to Marlene. Marlene grinned back.

Lily turned her angry gaze towards the two. "And how would you know your little plan 'worked'?"

Marlene answered, smirking at Lily. "If it didn't, you would be ranting; Potter this, Potter that; and a bunch of other things along those lines."

Lily had to admit that was a very valid point. But instead she ground out, "Who came up with your Operation: Leave-Poor-Lily-By-Herself scheme?"

"Well, Marlene and I were told the Marauders' plan by Sirius, and we thought it was a good idea, so we convinced Alice and Dorcas to leave you alone." Here Mary tossed a look to Marlene, who took up the story. "Emmeline was a bit harder to convince. But after some nagging, and lots of dirty looks, she gave in at the last second." Both Mary and Marlene gave pointed looks to Emmeline, which were ignored.

Mary continued from where Marlene left off. "We wanted to be there to make sure the Marauders didn't do anything different from the plan, and so we could see first-hand if the plan worked. Alice had asked to join Frank, so she couldn't watch with us, though she was there, coincidentally, when the plan was put in action. But Dorcas, Marlene and I came to watch. In fact, you wouldn't have noticed us if Sirius hadn't pointed Dorcas out. Anyways, everything else went according to plan, and here we are!"

"Actually, I said no to James' date offer," Lily smirked at the shocked looks she received from everyone, even Emmeline. "Instead, we settled for just being friends." The shocked looks relaxed into neutral faces except for Mary and Marlene. At the two best friends' raised eyebrows and smirks, Lily quickly added, "We're just friends."

The two girls glanced at each other, the smirks not leaving their faces. Lily knew that look. It was the look of the two girls getting ready to plan something.

Planning for something Lily wouldn't like.

"No more plans and schemes, ok? I've had enough for today. Just..." Lily tried to stifle a yawn. "Just save it for another day, okay? Someday when I'm not fed up and tired..." Lily was too tired to actually listen to what she was saying. Her friends stared at her, shock and surprise loosely etched on their faces. She looked at the clock.

"Let's get...to bed..." Lily stared at the clock. Time had passed quickly. It was nearly two in the morning! "MERLIN'S BEARD! We're going to oversleep and miss breakfast and classes!"

"It's Sunday tomorrow, Lily," the amused, but tired Alice said. But when she saw Lily's glare, she quickly said, "But I agree, we might miss breakfast, we should be getting to bed." Everyone started to ready themselves for bed.

After everyone was in bed and the lights were off, Lily spoke. "Just wondering, but what did you call your little 'operation'?"

Lily heard giggles from all of her dorm-mates. She even saw, from the light of the moon outside, Emmeline grinning, from her bed near the window. Altogether, her five friends replied.

"Operation: Butterbeer-and-Veritaserum."

Lily laughed. Not at the obviousness of the operation name, or at the obviousness of the plan itself, or any of the other ironic or funny things that had happened that day.

She just laughed, without reason.

Her friends did, too, and in that moment, Lily forgave her friends. Lily had a feeling that Emmeline had forgiven Mary and Marlene, and if Emmeline could do that, Lily could forgive her friends.

Lily reveled in the moment; suspended in a moment of joy and happiness. Though she knew it would break the instant she woke up to the sounds of her dorm-mates getting ready.

But for now, Lily would just live in the moment.

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**PLEASE READ THIS!**

**Author's Note**

**Thank you for reading my first fanfiction! I'll call this the Rosh Hashanah update because tomorrow is the Rosh Hashanah! Happy Rosh Hashanah to all that celebrate it.**

**On another note, I would like to ask, _please_, no flames! This is my first fanfiction, so I really wouldn't want those flames because they hurt my feelings :(. And yes, I do have feelings.**

**I absolutely would love constructive criticism! If you could spare maybe thirty seconds of your life to review/constructively criticize/generally show your appreciation of my hard work (I worked on this for two weeks, and then I even made two of my friends read it for approval, I was just _so _nervous!) I would love to have it and if you can spare that much time, please review!**

**If you really love my story, or really like it, or however you express your loving of this story, please favorite it! I really would like for others to be able to read this, and it really means so much to me that you bothered to do that. If my work dims in comparison to some other work you've read (which it probably will), just review and tell me what you think and what could be improved! Haters gonna hate, but those who care won't hate even if the fanfiction is horrible. And we're all in this together, yeah? We're all aspiring writers who can help each other and read each other's stories and help the writers and just read stories for fun!**

**Thank you for reading this fanfiction and Author's Note and have a wonderful time reading fanfiction!**

**A big thanks to and JK Rowling for making this fanfiction possible.**

**And a big thanks to all of my readers! (You're all _my _readers! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!)**

**_~Lumosify_  
**


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